Record-setting Hamilton dominates Spa qualifying

Lewis Hamilton dominated qualifying to claim pole position for Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

It's Hamilton's 68th career pole equalling Michael Schumacher's all-time record tally. It's the Mercedes driver's seventh pole of the season. His best lap time in the final round was 1:42.553s, which was the fourth time in the session that Hamilton had successfully set a new Spa track record.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel put together a mighty late effort to take second place on the grid, 0.242s off Hamilton's time. He pipped Valtteri Bottas by three tenths of a second.

Bottas will start on the second row alongside Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who ended up having to abort his final run and giving Vettel a tow instead. Red Bull team mates Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo will line up in fifth and sixth place.

Renault's Nico Hulkenberg came good in the final minutes to ensure he will start tomorrow's Belgian Grand Prix from seventh ahead of Force India duo Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon.

Renault's Jolyon Palmer finished qualifying in tenth place, having been unable to set a time in Q3. A gearbox oil pressure problem forced him to pull over on his out lap, but the car was retrieved under local waved yellows without recourse to red flags.

Q1: Williams and Sauber make early exits

The session began with blue skies and sunshine, with no sign of the showers that had been hinted at in forecasts. Hamilton was the first man to set a time in Q1 on supersofts, which he subsequently improved to 1:44.184s to go nine hundredths ahead of the similarly-shod Vettel.

Verstappen delighted his legion of fans at the track by going into third on ultras. He was ahead of Raikkonen, who reported suffering "odd" vibrations on his first run. Bottas was narrowly behind in fifth, with Ricciardo some way back in sixth ahead of Force India's Esteban Ocon. None of the top seven felt the need to go back out for a second run.

A late flier from Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz vaulted the Spaniard into ninth place behind Renault's Nico Hulkenberg. His last minute improvement dropped Felipe Massa into the elimination zone in the repaired Williams. Massa's team mate Lance Stroll also failed to progress, after his car sustained bodywork damage and was unable to get back out in time to make another qualifying run.

The two Sauber cars - both of which have grid penalties for gearbox changes - lacked pace and failed to make the cut. Daniil Kvyat was also out, having lost preparation time in FP3 when his car suffered a power loss and brief fire.

Q2: Alonso misses out despite team mate tow

Having saved a set with his run on supersofts in Q1, Hamilton was straight out on ultras in the second round. Despite oversteering into Stavelot, he set a new track record time of 1:43.539s. It was enough to put him a tenth and a half ahead of Raikkonen, who was still complaining of vibrations. Bottas initially claimed third ahead of Verstappen, Vettel and Ricciardo.

Despite looking secure, both Mercedes drivers came out for another run and improved their times. Hamilton clocked in at 1:42.927s, with Bottas 0.322s away in second which demoted Raikkonen to third.

Both Renaults made it into the Q3, despite a clutch failure scare for Jolyon Palmer. Nico Hulkenberg's last-gasp effort demoted Fernando Alonso from the top ten, despite McLaren attempting to arrange a 'tow' down the Kemmel Straight from Alonso's team mate Stoffel Vandoorne. Alonso reported an all-too familiar loss of power before the end of his run.

Already beset with a 65-grid penalty, Vandoorne made no serious qualifying run of his own in Q2 and was duly eliminated. Also out at the end of the second round were the two Haas cars of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, as well as the remaining Toro Rosso driven by Carlos Sainz.

Belgian Grand Prix - Qualifying results

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter